As South African rugby writer Craig Ray explained to us this week, Springbok rugby is not in a great place before Saturday's November International clash at Aviva Stadium.
But given their pedigree, even an uncertain South Africa side will still provide stiff opposition for Ireland regardless of recent results.
Head coach Allister Coetzee will certainly hope so and he spoke to our own Oisin Langan as the Ireland match approaches.
He gave an insight into the changes that have been made in the interim.
"It's another opportunity for us to learn the lessons from last year. I've kept continuity in the team," he said.
"Last year I found that bringing too many overseas based players really wasn't conducive for a good team environment and also for time to prepare for test match rugby. This year, much better and I can see there's already massive progress."
Head coach Allister Coetzee ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Coetzee explained that he is not just looking at results as it would be "missing the point" and cited experienced gained for his current squad.
"The majority of the team have got the eight test caps. A lot of them only started this year and they're going for their ninth this weekend," he said.
"I think our pack has really taken a nice shape. You've got to look at the mini battles, you've got to look at how we've scrummed, how our lineouts went and I'm happy with the set phase because that will be the challenge on Saturday and that is always a challenge coming to the Northern Hemisphere. There's a set piece battle, there's a gain line battle and our defence also has improved a hell of a lot. And then the aerial bombardment, that will be coming so there's another skill that will be tested on Saturday."
The South Africa head coach also spoke about a former member of his backroom team Johann van Graan, who is taking over as Munster head coach, while Rassie Erasmus goes in the opposite direction back to the Springboks.
"Johann van Graan is an unbelievable person and a very good technical coach. He's a man of character and definitely Munster's gain without a doubt. He's got all the experience at international level," said Coetzee of his former colleague.
"Obviously that will be a bit of a loss for us but I wish him well and I know he's going to do a sterling job at Munster.
"With Rassie, we will deal with that at the New Year. The two of us will probably sit in a room and look at the roles and define that."
Coetzee added that he'd worked with Erasmus before previously.
Johann van Graan
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